Currently available punches for pressing powder, such as cosmetic powder, consist of a solid block of metal, such as cold-rolled steel. Such punches are typically pressed onto a pan containing loose or lightly packed powder so as to achieve a particular hardness of a particular material. Such punches cannot be used to simultaneously compress more than one formula in a pan unless the formulas are highly similar or identical to one another because applying the single pressure from the punch to the two different formulas will result in different hardness characteristics and payoff performance.
For example, when pressing two different formulas contained within the same pan, the formula with more caking or pressing agent will press to a greater hardness than the formula with fewer caking or pressing agents. In such a scenario, the powder formula on one side of the pan will be much harder than the formula on the other side of the pan. The formula with more caking agents may become overly pressed, exhibit glazing, and/or yield insufficient payoff performance. The formula with less caking agents, on the other hand, may be under pressed, prone to dusting and breaking, and yield too much payoff performance.
Presently available systems and methods for pressing two or more formulas and containing them within the same pan involve separately pressing each formula in a separate plate to achieve a given hardness for each formula, and then combining the pressed formulas into a single pan where a finishing press is applied to smooth the edges of each formula and give the pan an appealing and unified look. Such systems and methods are time consuming, expensive, and error-prone, as each formula must be separately pressed and then removed from its initial container and placed in a new pan together with one or more other formulas that have also been pressed.